GARDENING : Washed Out? : Drought-tolerant movement will persist, experts say, despite winter rains. Costly water, uncertain supply will keep interest alive.
Does this winter’s deluge and the official end of the six-year drought mean the death of the budding xeriscape movement? Can we gardeners forget about drought-tolerant plants and conserving water and get back to business as usual, pre-drought?
It might seem so. Gardens are as green as can be, blooming like they haven’t in years. Nursery sales are booming, up 40% over last March at one large retailer. Gardeners are giddy about all the rainfall.
But water management experts and xeriscape specialists say the drought’s end hasn’t changed their views that water will become increasingly precious in the future. They see a few dark clouds on the horizon, and it’s not the next storm.
They point to tough new environmental regulations that will restrict the supply of water, new rate structures and costly improvements to the water system, all of which will raise the cost of water coming out of the garden hose.
“The euphoria ought to last until they (gardeners) get their first water bill,” said Warren Willig of ETo Limited, a water management consultant to water districts.
Some half-acre properties in the San Fernando Valley may see $500 water bills this summer, Willig said, “and now you’re talking some serious money.”
Water rates have gone up as consumption went down and in some communities, Santa Barbara, for instance, they have gone up dramatically. Other areas, including Los Angeles, will actually see a very small decrease at first, thanks to the superabundance of water, but then the rates will begin to climb.
Duane Georgeson, assistant general manager at the giant Metropolitan Water District, which provides water to Los Angeles and most smaller communities, says to expect rates to gradually rise over the next five years.
“We’re trying to spread it out,” he said, “so people can build it into their budget, but the price of product is going up. It’s unavoidable.”
New rate structures in many water districts will penalize heavier users. In Los Angeles, median residential use is 12 billing units a month, which equals about 9,000 gallons, and most gardeners use more than that.
Those who use more than 28 billing units in summer (June to October) or 22 units in winter can expect to see an increase from $1.73 to $2.98 for each additional billing unit. (Billing units are how consumption is measured on water bills; each one equals 100 cubic feet or 748 gallons.)
Georgeson and others think that saving water in the garden is here to stay, although Draconian methods may not be necessary. They point to new environmental concerns that limit the available water, to new water quality regulations that increase its cost, and to huge additions and improvements to the water system, such as the $1.5-billion storage reservoir to be built near Hemet by MWD that will help save water for the dry years.
All of these will increase the cost of water, and the environmental concerns have already begun to affect its availability.
Georgeson thinks the long-term water picture is “pretty cloudy” because of tougher and tougher restrictions to protect fisheries and endangered species, such as the winter run salmon, Delta smelt, long fin smelt and the Sacramento split tail. “Even when there’s water,” he said, “there’s not always the ability to export that water.”
Landscape designer and contractor Robert Cornell speaks for those who still see a need to save water when he says, “the bottom line is water supplies aren’t increasing, but restrictions and population are.” He plans to stick with water-conserving schemes in his designs.
“A lot of people I’m talking to think the end of the drought is pretty iffy,” he said. “It’s definitely not the kiss of death for xeriscape. People I know have learned to conserve and they are continuing to conserve, maybe more than the water agencies would like. They are in the business of selling water.”
But the water agencies aren’t backing away from the conservation effort either. “Things will never be the same, that’s for sure,” said Jerry Gewe, water resources manager for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. “If I were redoing a garden I had let go during the drought, I’d look toward the future and plan a garden that uses less water than I did in the past.
“We need to develop long-term efficiency in our water use. That doesn’t mean depriving ourselves, but it means using water carefully. We can have any kind of garden we want if we have the proper mixture of plants, drip or zoned irrigation, things like that,” he said. “You can do an awful lot without creating a swamp. Swamps are probably a thing that people aren’t going to be able to afford it the future.”
“Xeriscape is still a good long-term investment,” said Cornell, “when dealing with an uncertain water supply.”
In fact, one of the founders of the xeriscape movement in California, Randall Ismay of Water and Landscape Consultants, sees the end of the official drought as “job security.” “Maybe people will finally realize that we are never, ever, again going to be out of a drought situation in California. There’s just too many people and not enough water.”
Even though some people saved more water during the drought than they needed to, according to water officials, most gardeners have not embraced the concept. “Too many people still don’t know what xeriscape means,” Ismay said. “It never was and never will be cactus and gravel.”
“We’re trying to expand the plant palette, to get more and more interesting plants in the garden, to make a greener environment, but with an eye to those that are water-thrifty,” he said.
Mike Evans at Tree of Life Wholesale Nursery in San Juan Capistrano, which specializes in native plants that are water-thrifty in the extreme, added:
“The drought was an effective tool to get people’s attention. Now they have to figure out what really is appropriate in this climate.”
But Keith Haworth at Plants for Dry Climates, a retail and wholesale nursery in Lake Elsinore, says that only about 20% of his business is in water-thrifty plants, despite the nursery’s name.
“There is a lot of interest, but most people still don’t know what a xeriscape exactly is,” he said. “We’re not talking cactus here; but flowers and greenery and even a little lawn, if you like. But we’re also not talking about 3,000 square feet of turf grass either.”
Beth Rogers, co-owner of Pacifc Sod and a member of the Council for a Green Environment, said big lawns may be on the way out, pointing out that the typical residential sod sale is only for 700 to 800 square feet.
But Rogers also sees continuing challenges for gardeners. “The issue of water will not disappear, but more important, the regulation of landscape will not go away,” she said. She sees it as a battle of agencies, from solid waste management to water districts, and each has its own agenda in the garden. “The drought was only the first round,” she said.
Designer Cornell agrees that gardeners and others should broadened the topic, abandon the word xeriscape and talk about “sustainable landscapes,” pointing out that there is more to a sustainable landscape than just saving water, though that is a big part.
He thinks gardens must face up to environmental challenges that won’t go away with a wet year. “We not only need to save water, we have to stop producing so much green waste, which ends up in landfills,” he said. “That’s the next big issue.”
And, indeed it is, since the California Integrated Waste Management Act, passed in 1989, will mandate a 25% cutback in the amount of trash going to landfills by 1995, and a whopping 50% cutback by 2000.
Haworth, of Plants for Dry Climates, added:
“Gardeners are becoming more ecologically minded, and not wasting water is only part of the picture. They want the garden to provide habitat for wildlife by planting things that draw birds and butterflies, as well as save water, and they don’t want to use poisons.”
Said Cornell: “Cities have to become more habitable, but without using more resources and without sacrificing the natural environment. Gardeners can make a real impact.”
So, despite the rain, everything is not coming up roses. The garden, like everything else, is changing. Large gardens, which use lots of water and produce a lot of green waste from clippings and trimmings, are going to feel it the most; small gardens maybe hardly at all, at least for a few years.
DWP’s Jerry Gewe thinks there is enough water socked away in reservoirs to last about two years, but he added, “then we’ll have to see what the weather brings.”
Water-Thrifty Garden Can Be Started Now
For those who want to cover their bets and refurbish their drought-stricken gardens with less thirsty plants, this is the year. Says Randall Ismay of Water and Landscape Consultants: “You don’t want to plant a new garden, even a water-thrifty one, in the middle of a drought because starting any kind of garden takes a lot of water.”
“But this year nature has given us an awful lot of water, so now is the time to do it. Prepare now and no one will be saying ‘too bad, buddy, you’re too late’ when times get tough again.”
He thinks that now through early June will be perfect planting times. Or wait until next fall if you want next winter’s rains to help with the irrigating.
Jerry Gewe at DWP agrees: “This is the year to get a more sustainable garden started. We’ve got plenty of water and probably will for at least two years.”
